A letter from the Maryland Department or the Environment proclaiming the agency wouldn’t approve any drip irrigation systems in the state until later this year was apparently worded too broadly. While the letter from Environment Secretary Shari T. Wilson to Community & Environmental Defense Services said the agency would not process permit applications for any drip irrigation system, the moratorium actually only applies to large land application systems, according to Steven Krieg, a sanitarian in the On-Site Systems Division.

Our January Rules & Regs column included Wilson’s correspondence mentioning a blanket ban of drip irrigation systems, which caused some confusion for Pumper readers in Maryland. Contractors contacted us, saying they thought the ban had nothing to do with residential systems they were installing for customers throughout the state. They were right, so we’re clarifying the story here and in a future issue of Pumper.

If you have comments, questions or suggestions about this blog, contact me at editor@pumper.com.